Fungi and In-Laws
by aaquater
Summary: Never in her life Ginny would've imagined that she'd meet her in-laws; least of all this way. Not a story happening in the afterlife. That means - time-travel. Or not?


_I haven't seen a story like this one on FanFiction, so I decided to give it a shot. Hope you'll like it._

_I had quite a lot of trouble with figuring out the genre for the story, so don't rely much on it. In my opinion, it's a friendship/humor/mystery crossover with bits of drama and maybe romance and family. But it's possible that every one of you will have a different opinion.  
_

* * *

Tall grass tickled Ginny's bare calves as she walked across a meadow. On her left, there was a dark, deep lake, and on her right, branches of a big forest were creating half-arches above Ginny's head, making her constantly walk in and out of the shadows.

Ginny didn't know where she was, nor did she know why she was there or how she got there. The last thing she remembered was returning from King's Cross where she and her mum had said goodbye to her brothers - even Ron was at Hogwarts now and she still had to wait; wasn't that unfair? - and crashing into an armchair, exhausted. (Being woken up at 4 AM by your brother does that to you.)

'I must've passed out in the armchair,' Ginny thought. 'I fell asleep and... then what? Someone kidnapped me and then was forced to leave me in the middle of nowhere? Or I have accidentally Apparated myself here? No; nobody can Apparate while they're asleep, do they? Did I touch and activate a Portkey when I sat into the armchair? No; why would there be a Portkey at home? Ugh, this is weird.'

None of Ginny's theories about how she appeared there and what she was supposed to do there made any sense to her, so in the end, she just gave up and set off, trying to find someone who could tell her where 'there' was, at least.

Suddenly, a stag ran out of the forest straight at Ginny. They would've collided, had the stag not stopped just in time to avoid getting a ten-year-old girl stuck on its antlers.

Ginny yelped in shock, jumping two feet in the air. "You scared me," she scolded the stag, trying to slow her heartbeat down to a normal pace. It was only lucky for her that she didn't pay that much attention to the stag at the moment, or she would've seen... Was it rolling its eyes?!

After a while, Ginny calmed down enough to begin observing the stag, which was still standing there, almost looking like it was posing. Her breath hitched. "You're beautiful," she whispered. She reached a hand to it, but it jerked its head. "Don't worry, I just want to pat you," Ginny said soothingly.

However, this time, as Ginny put her right hand on the stag's nose and stroked the fur with her thumb, smiling at the tickling feeling, she saw the stag's look that could be clearly interpreted as 'Are you serious?' She blinked, but then only smiled, thinking she must've imagined it. After all, stags aren't supposed to look exasperated, right?

After a while, the stag backed away from the touch. It performed something Ginny was sure was a bow and set off in the direction Ginny wanted to go. After that, Ginny wasn't so sure she'd only imagined the exasperated look.

'There's something strange about that stag,' she frowned. 'Maybe it's somebody's pet, and they trained it to behave like that. Yeah, that must be it.'

And so, Ginny ran after the stag, thinking it would lead her to some people. Unfortunately, she didn't make more than ten steps before she tripped over something that was hidden in the grass and fell flat on her face.

Uttering several choice words she'd heard Fred and George say, Ginny got up and brushed the dirt off of her robes and forearms. Then, when she checked her robes for holes (thankfully, there weren't any), she went to look at the thing that had caused her fall, only to come to a wide-eyed halt.

On the ground in front of her, there was, overturned and uprooted... the single most beautiful mushroom she'd ever seen. All spiteful thoughts gone from her mind, she kneeled down next to the mushroom and took it in her hands. She let out an inaudible 'Wow!' observing the fungus and thinking that only she would find such a mushroom by tripping over it. About that, Ginny was surprised the cap still held together, but she was glad. She would've severely regretted it if she'd damaged such a beautiful specimen.

The cap itself was bigger than Ginny's foot; its diameter was about as big as her forearm. It was yellowish, about the same colour as lion fur, but it was covered with many brown scales. The mushroom had gills, and they were chocolate brown. The stem was at least eight inches tall and so thick, Ginny could barely join her thumb and middle finger together when she held the mushroom. Just above her hand, there was the ring, which looked more like a skirt than anything else to Ginny. When she brought the mushroom to her nose, Ginny was surprised that she didn't smell the usual 'mushroom smell' she was used to when her mum dried mushrooms to use them in a soup. This mushroom smelled different; if Ginny had to liken the smell to something, it reminded her of almonds the most.

When she was done admiring her discovery, Ginny decided she was going to bring the mushroom with her. After all, she had uprooted it when she'd tripped over it, so it was not going to grow anymore, and she didn't want to leave it on the ground just like that; who knows, it just might become useful to her in some way or other.

With the mushroom in her hand, Ginny continued on her way, following the same path the stag had taken. Walking on the lake's shore, however, she paid a lot of attention to where she was stepping. She didn't want to risk tripping over anything again, or – even worse – falling into the lake. With one hand full, she wouldn't have even been able to cushion her fall properly.

When the lake's shore started to veer left and the opposite shore came considerably nearer, Ginny saw something that took her breath away for the third time in an hour.

Behind the end of the lake, which Ginny was able to see, the meadow spread to a shallow valley, which took up the whole horizon except the dark forest on her right. But the thing that took Ginny's eyes was a magnificent castle set in the middle of the valley. The castle was medieval-styled and it was enormous, with many towers, windows, bridges and courtyards. There were also the greenhouses under the castle walls and two smaller houses on both sides of the castle – a lower one next to the forest and a taller one with a pointy roof on a small hill a bit further away from the castle. Also, around the castle, there were dozens of people in black robes – sitting, walking, lying down or chasing one another around.

Ginny found the place extremely beautiful. Forgetting all about the stag, she immediately decided that that was where she was going to go to find the answers to her questions. Although, despite knowing that she'd never been to the castle, Ginny couldn't shake the strange feeling that she was supposed to know the place well. And not only that; she was supposed to like it.

Shrugging, Ginny slowly made her way towards the castle and – more importantly – the Wizards around it. Ginny figured they had to be Wizards, because Muggles didn't usually wear robes, and if they did, it was only women, and only for formal occasions. Ginny was close enough to be able to see that some of those people were definitely not women.

Ginny saw that all of those people were young – between ten and twenty years, probably. Thinking about the Hogwarts robes she'd seen her brothers wear, she wondered whether it was some other Wizarding school, where the school year started sooner than on the first of September, because – Well, the Hogwarts Express couldn't have reached Scotland so fast. Or could it?

'Well, there's always the option that this _is_ Hogwarts and it's already the second of September,' Ginny thought, but she didn't find the solution likely. She didn't want to believe that she'd slept for one whole day. She had been tired, yes, but not _that_ tired.

Choosing a friendly-looking girl, who was reading a book while lying in the grass on her stomach, as the victim of her questions, Ginny couldn't help but notice that the girl wore a blue-and-bronze scarf. She frowned. 'I know this scarf; those are the Ravenclaw colours! But that must mean this is Hogwarts! And if I'm at Hogwarts, I can meet-'

"_Potter!_ For the last time; no, I'm not! Why can't you just let it be?"

Ginny's heart skipped a beat. Not wasting a single second hesitating, she ran to where the voice had come from. Now that she was between the students, she was getting a lot of weird stares from them – A girl with a giant mushroom in her hand, not in Hogwarts robes and running like she'd been chased by a rogue dragon? Something was definitely up. – but she barely noticed it; she was too focused on finding her hero. She might've got a glimpse of him at King's Cross, but that didn't count as she hadn't known who he was, and so she couldn't have reacted properly.

'Now, Ginny, you're going to meet Harry Potter. Don't mess it up,' Ginny told herself, smoothing her hair and robes with her free hand. Looking at the mushroom in her other hand, Ginny pondered what she was supposed to do with it. In the end, she decided to keep it. 'Maybe when he sees it, he'll be impressed.'

Ginny turned a corner and saw a group of four boys standing next to the castle and staring at a side entrance to the castle. One of the boys had messy black hair and glasses. In that moment, the logical part of Ginny's brain stopped working.

"_You're Harry Potter!_ You're Har- Harry Potter!" Ginny screamed. It was really a miracle that she didn't trip over her own legs as she ran to the boys, panting. "I'm Ginny Weasley. We've met, remember?"

The four boys turned around and the messy-haired one's eyes widened a bit behind his glasses upon seeing Ginny. "Ye- no," he said, changing his answer in mid-sentence.

Ginny did a happy dance on the inside. 'He remembers me! But why would he pretend he doesn't?'

"On the railway station, yesterday, right?" Ginny continued, staring into the boy's hazel eyes. 'Hmm, that's strange. I could've sworn they were green yesterday. Oh well, I probably saw it wrong.' "When you asked my mum how to get on the platform and she told you to go before Ron."

Now, the boy looked confused, as did the other three, but Ginny paid no attention to them. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't at any railway station yesterday, and I don't know anyone named Ron. Are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"

"No, I'm not! And you said at first that you remembered me, Harry!"

The boy looked uncomfortable. "You... look a bit like someone I know, so I thought you were her. I'm sorry, but I don't know you, Ginny, and I don't think we've ever met."

The happy feeling Ginny'd had went away like gas from a bottle of coke. She felt confused, angry, but mostly she felt like crying. She knew Harry was lying, so why would he let her down like that?

"Uhm, Ginny," one of the other boys coughed to get Ginny's attention. He had black hair like Harry, but his was flat and long. He was also a couple of inches taller than Harry. "Nice mushroom, by the way. I just want to ask... why do you call James, Harry?"

Ginny blinked. "James?"

"Yes," the Not-Harry confirmed. "My name is James Potter."

Only then, Ginny realised several important facts. For starters; the Harry she'd seen at King's Cross had been barely taller than her. This boy towered over her by more than a foot. Then, Harry was supposed to have the famous lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. This boy's forehead was completely clear. And last, the boy had a Quidditch Captain badge pinned on his robes. Harry, as a first year, couldn't even make the team, least of all become the Captain.

"But... but..." Ginny stuttered. "Are you a Muggleborn?"

James scowled. "Are _you_ a pureblood fanatic? Just for your information, I'm pureblood, but I don't think it makes any difference."

Ginny quickly raised her hands in surrender. "I'm not a pureblood fanatic. I just... There's only one Potter Wizarding family, right?"

"Yes," James replied with raised eyebrows.

"And it's only member is Harry Potter, who I met yesterday, and he looks almost identical to you!"

James shook his head. "Sorry Ginny, but that's not true. As you can see, I'm quite alive, and my parents are, too. I don't know where you have this information from, but it seems to be wrong."

"Isn't there any Harry in your family?" Ginny asked, now grasping at the straws.

James thought about it for a while. "My great-grandfather's name was Harry, but he died when I was nine, and he was from my mum's side of the family, so he wasn't even a Potter."

Ginny collapsed on the ground, putting her head in her hands and trying to process the information. However, she couldn't quite grasp her mind around what was happening. Either she or James had to be wrong and she was sure it wasn't her – heck, she'd _seen_ Harry the previous day – but the other boys seemed to think James had the right facts. She didn't know what to make of it anymore.

Meanwhile, James and the boy who'd complimented Ginny on the mushroom had a silent discussion.

"Why didn't you pretend you were Harry from the start? I thought you liked girls fawning all over you, and this one looked like you were her hero or something," the other boy said.

"Padfoot, you're disgusting! First, she's at least six years younger than me. Second, weren't you the one who told her I wasn't Harry? And third, that's you. For me, there's only Lily."

"Okay, you're right, Romeo," 'Padfoot' admitted. "But still; it would've been a laugh."

James looked at his best friend with raised eyebrows. "Are you sure?" He motioned with his head towards Ginny, who was still sitting on the ground with her head in her hands; the mushroom in her left hand now shielding her face from the sun like a 100%-bio sunshade. "She really was convinced that I'm Harry."

"James is right, Sirius," said the third boy – the tallest of the four. He had light brown hair and until this point, he'd been deep in thought. "There's something weird going on. You shouldn't make fun of Ginny just because she has the wrong information. We've got to figure out what's up."

"Shouldn't we, you know, introduce ourselves, when we want to play detectives?" the last boy, short and mousy-brown-haired, piped.

"Good idea, Peter! And just as I started to wonder why we keep putting up with you," Sirius grinned, ruffling Peter's hair.

"Shut up," Peter scowled, shoving Sirius' hand away.

"Hmm... let's see... what about no?"

"Sirius," the tall boy sighed. "Could you at least once act your age, and not its square route?"

"Yes, sir," Sirius mock-saluted, making Peter snicker. Then, he turned towards Ginny and cleared his throat theatrically. Ginny looked up at the sound and Sirius took it as a cue to say in an announcer's voice, "Dear Miss, it's my greatest pleasure to introduce you to the best team of detectives on this planet, the Marauders. The team consists of James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and the best and hottest of them all, the boss and yours truly, Sirius Black." With each name, Sirius pointed to the person the name belonged to.

"Hey, who made you the boss?" James asked, annoyed, but he didn't receive any answer, because the other boys were focused on Ginny, who had gone pale as soon as she'd heard Sirius, and who was currently trying to cower in a corner of the castle walls.

"What did I say?" Sirius frowned, confused.

"Sirius Black, like the criminal?" Ginny squeaked.

Sirius blinked. "The _what?_ I'm sorry, but unless being naturally handsome has become illegal, I'm no criminal."

"Again, this is something like the James – Harry thing," Remus sighed. "Ginny, what do you know about the Sirius Black, who is a criminal?"

"Not much," Ginny admitted. "He's in Azkaban for... murder, I think, but I'm not sure. Also, I don't remember hearing that he was captured, so he must've been there for a long time now."

"Not me, then," Sirius said. "I'm here, I haven't murdered anyone and I'm seventeen. It has to be a namesake, probably a Muggleborn or half-blood. Black is quite a common surname in the Muggle world."

James bit his lip in thought. "Do you think there's another family of nutters that name their kids using an Astronomy chart?"

"Has to be. There is no other Sirius in my family," Sirius shook his head.

"That would've been funny if there was. Someone would've said Sirius and both of you would answer," Peter snickered.

Ginny smiled at that, but James, Sirius and Remus only looked at each other, exchanging exasperated looks.

Remus opened his mouth to ask Ginny another question, but he was interrupted before he even began by James' cry of "Lily, you're back! I knew you'd change your mind."

Lily, who had come out of the side entrance, looked at James icily. "I didn't change my mind. I just forgot my Charms notes by the lake."

"No problem," James grinned, taking his wand out. "Don't-" Lily began, but James had already flicked his wand towards the lake, saying, "Accio Lily's Charms notes!"

"He's like a sunflower, except his sun is Evans," Sirius muttered to Remus out of the corner of his mouth. Then, they both had to smother their laughter as a pile of papers flew to James and fell apart right in front of him.

Calling James several unrepeatable words, Lily crouched down to pick up her papers and put them back in order. "Didn't you think that if I could just Accio the notes, I wouldn't go out to take them manually?"

"Er, sorry? Oh, and when you said the words go and out together-"

At the moment, James was very glad looks couldn't kill (well, if you weren't a Basilisk, but Lily was much too beautiful and had too many limbs to be a Basilisk), because if they could, he would've been safely dead from the glare she was sending him. But, as they couldn't, he could stare into those eyes he loved so much and watch them become dangerous slits.

When Lily folded her papers and stood up, she noticed Ginny sitting by the wall with the remaining three Marauders. "Who is it that you've got here?" she asked.

"That's kind of hard to explain," James scratched the back of his head.

"No it's not," Sirius disagreed. Taking the role of an announcer again, he said, "Lily Evans, Gryffindor Prefect and James' obsession," pointing at Lily and "Ginny Weasley, confused," pointing at Ginny.

"Confused?" Lily asked, looking – confused.

"Well, for some reason, she thought my name was Harry and Sirius was a criminal," James explained. "So, we're trying to find out why she's thinking like that."

Lily frowned. "Why do you think James' name was Harry, Ginny?"

"Because I saw Harry yesterday at the station, and he looked just like James, except he was shorter, 'cause he was only a first year."

"At the station?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows. "You mean the King's Cross station, right?"

"Yep."

"So, if this Harry was a first year, why would he be at King's Cross yesterday?"

Ginny looked at Lily as though she'd gone a bit weird. "Because it was the first of September yesterday, maybe?"

Lily and the Marauders exchanged bewildered looks. Ginny, noticing it, grew nervous. "What's wrong?"

"Umm... it's the nineteenth of April today, Ginny," Sirius said carefully.

"_Nineteenth of April?_" Ginny shrieked. Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, she said, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but... year?"

"1977," came the reply.

* * *

Ginny felt like fainting. Only one thought seemed to remain in her mind. 'I'm in the past!' She tried to tell herself that everyone was just playing one big joke about her, but it didn't seem like it; at least, the hairdos the students wore had really been out for at least ten years.

"I'm not even alive," Ginny whispered.

"You're not- What?" Sirius asked. "You seem pretty much alive to me," he said, poking her in the shoulder.

"I've travelled to the past!" Ginny breathed. "In this time, I haven't been born yet!"

The Marauders and Lily looked shocked. "How is that possible?" Lily muttered to herself.

"There are those devices called Time-Turners," Remus suggested. "They can take you back in time."

"I've heard of them, Remus, but... I think Time-Turners can only take you twenty-four hours back at most," Lily replied. "And Ginny says she hasn't been born yet, so she's travelled at least ten years back."

Suddenly, Ginny started laughing, not paying attention to Lily and Remus' discussion. "If I came home now, I'd see Percy as a toddler!"

"Who's Percy?" James asked.

"My brother. He's five years older than me, so seeing him now would be... you know?"

"This is insane," Sirius shook his head, laughing. "You're from the future!"

"Yep. I was... er, I will be born in 1981. Do you know how weird it feels to say _I will be born?_"

"Hey," Sirius grinned. "This could be of use. You don't, by any chance, know who's going to win the Quidditch League this year?"

"Erm... sorry, you'd have to ask Ron. Another of my brothers," she added at the questioning looks. Sirius, who was rubbing his head where Lily had whacked him, looked disappointed.

"Guys, do you know what this means?" Remus asked. "Ginny, you didn't have wrong information, after all! You just were in the wrong time!"

"Yeah!" Ginny grinned. 'Finally, nothing's wrong! Well, except the fact that I'm stuck fourteen years in the past, chatting with people, some of which are dead.' Then, realising something, the grin turned into a frown. "Hang on. If I'm in the past, then how come you," she pointed at James, "have seen me before?"

"But I haven't," James gritted through his teeth.

"Yes you have," Ginny pressed on. "And I'd like to know where and when."

James rolled his eyes. "Merlin, you're annoying. Alright; because of me, you found that mushroom," he gestured to the mushroom Ginny was still holding in her hand.

Ginny's jaw fell to the ground. "You mean you were the-"

"Yep," James nodded.

"But- How?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" James stuck his tongue at Ginny, choosing to act her age rather than his own.

"What are you talking about, mate?" Sirius asked.

"She saw Prongs," James explained simply.

"Oh." Sirius, Remus and Peter now looked like they understood. However, Lily didn't, and that annoyed the young witch greatly.

"Would you tell me what's going on? Isn't Prongs just your nickname, Potter?"

"Um... yeah, sure, it is..."

Remus cleared his throat. "Lily, I'm sorry, but those nicknames are our secret. As I doubt that you'd want to become a Marauder-"

"Of course not!" Lily exclaimed, scandalised.

"Then, I hope you can understand that this is not your business." Remus fished a Chocolate Frog out of his robes pocket and started munching on it, ending the conversation.

"Chocolate again, Remus?" James shook his head at his best friend.

"Hey, don't make fun of the we- wizard," Remus said, correcting his slip-up for Ginny's sake.

"How come the frog isn't melted?" Ginny asked, intrigued. "It has to be at least twenty degrees here."

"Um, I've put the Cooling Charm on my pockets exactly because of that," Remus explained.

"Cool," Ginny grinned.

"Well, yes... that's why it's called the Cooling Charm..."

James, Sirius, Peter and Lily started snickering. After a while, Ginny joined them, too. "Not getting the point there, Mr. Refrigerator," Sirius chortled.

"Whatever." Remus turned his attention to the card in the Chocolate Frog packet, only to groan when he saw it. "Not Bertie Bott again; my eighth!"

Strangely, this caused Peter to develop an even stronger laughing fit. "Sorry, but... this sounds like he's your ex-boyfriend or something!"

"Remus, I'm afraid to share a dorm with you any longer," Sirius informed him in a grave voice before bursting into laughter with the others.

"Hey! I'm straight!" Remus yelled, but the fivesome didn't hear him through their laughter. Remus only huffed, glaring at them and waiting for them to stop laughing.

"Ow, my stomach hurts," Ginny complained, picking herself up from the ground. "Um, does that mean you don't want the card, Remus?"

"Take it if you want." Remus tossed the card to Ginny, who caught it with a smile.

"Thanks! I didn't have him."

"Hate that guy," James muttered, watching the card with narrowed eyes.

"Why?" Sirius grinned at James. "Just because that one time you got-"

"Plaster, Padfoot! Plaster! Do you have any idea how disgusting that was?!" James complained.

"My brother says he once got a booger-flavoured one," Ginny commented.

"Now, that's what I call a real catch," Sirius praised. "The worst one I got was rust. The next time someone tells me I don't have enough iron in my body..."

"Once, I had a bean that I couldn't identify, but it was absolutely awful," Peter said. "On the other hand, the bean was brown, so I'm not really sure I want to know..."

James, Sirius, Remus and Ginny all snorted.

"Could we please move on from this topic? I feel sick," Lily groaned, going slightly green in the face.

Sirius got a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. "And I'd like to find out if you chewed your breakfast properly. So... what about your worst bean experience, Remus?"

Instead of a verbal response, Lily directed her best glare at the black-haired boy. Needless to say, he immediately took back what he'd said; being satisfied with the state his face currently was in.

"Guys, do you know what I've just realised?" Peter suddenly said, looking excited. "In fourteen years, there will be an eleven-year-old boy called Harry Potter, who will _look like James!_"

"You mean... Harry's my son?" James gasped with wide eyes, looking at Peter, but directing his question mostly to Ginny.

Ginny's jaw was down. 'I can't believe I haven't thought of this before!' she thought. 'Hang on... Harry's parents were called... James and Lily Potter!'

"No way!" Ginny gasped, looking at Lily. It was obvious to her that James liked the girl, even though in her opinion, he hadn't chosen the best way to tell it to Lily. But Lily seemed to dislike James; she didn't even call him by his first name! 'Well, she'll ought to have changed her mind in a few years.'

"So, is he?" James pressed on.

"Yep," Ginny confirmed, nodding.

"Wow," James breathed. "I'm going to be a father. And-" he began, but Sirius interrupted him, making him temporarily forget what he wanted to say.

"Poor kid," Sirius snickered. "He'll get your hair and eyesight."

"What do you mean?" James frowned.

"Well, Ginny thought you were him, didn't she? So he must've looked like you," Sirius reasoned.

"Makes sense," James nodded.

"And it's true," Ginny added.

"What about the mother?" Remus asked.

"Um... James will be happy."

One second of stunned silence...

"Woohoo! Yeah! I'll marry Lily!" James hollered, dancing around the others, who were sitting on the ground. Then, feeling ecstatic, he hugged Lily, who was frozen in shock and horror. Needless to say, it was enough to make Lily snap out of it as she not-so-gently shoved James away.

"Get off me, Potter," she snapped.

"Aw, come on! You've heard it yourself; we're gonna get married! The least you could do is look happy about it."

"I'll never look happy about it! I must've gone insane in the future to say yes to you, because I can't imagine why anyone would look happy about getting stuck with you and your big head for the rest of their life!" Lily snapped.

James looked like he'd been slapped. He kicked a molehill to vent his frustration. "How do you know?" he said quietly, watching the soil fly and land in the grass a bit further. "You've never given me a chance."

"I've seen enough. How you don't give a care in the world about anything; how you think you're the best in everything and can never fail; how you prank people for no reason at all. And, just so you'd know, a lot of your pranks are cruel! But no, you don't see that; you just laugh at the unlucky person who'd come in your sight." Lily shook her head in disgust. "What do you want to achieve like that?!"

Ginny felt really awkward during the whole scene she'd caused. Eager to change the subject, she asked, "Now that I'm here in the future... Does any of you have an idea how to get me back in 1991?" She'd only meant for Sirius, Remus and Peter to hear her, not wanting to turn James' and Lily's attention to her, but the aforementioned two heard her, too, and with a simple look, they ended their argument and sat on the ground. However, Lily went to sit next to Ginny, as she wanted to be as far from James as possible.

"Watch out!" Ginny squealed, taking her mushroom from under Lily just in time to avoid it being squished.

"Sorry," Lily smiled at Ginny apologetically.

"About your problem... I have no idea," Remus said, shrugging. "I don't know any way to send people forward in time."

A shudder ran though Ginny's body. "So I'm stuck here, in the past?"

Remus looked at Ginny, sympathetic. "Seems so. Maybe Dumbledore would know a solution, but he isn't here this week."

"What am I going to do?!"

"Look at it like this; you can watch your life from the start, like a film! You can help your other self not to do some mistakes you've made. You can advise her on some things. Maybe you will be able to communicate telepathically, I don't know; I've never met my other self, neither from the past, nor from the future, so I can't tell you. But I'm awesome enough for two people, so maybe that counts."

"You're not taking it seriously," Ginny groaned.

"Of course I am!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. Unfortunately, she failed to see the other four teens desperately shaking their heads and mouthing 'no' at her.

"I've always been Sirius, so how should I take things if not Siriusly?"

"Ugh!" Ginny aimed a kick at Sirius, but he rolled out of the way and she missed, hitting the castle wall instead. The wall groaned at the impact.

Hang on; groaned? Stone castle walls usually don't groan when kicked, do they?

Ginny opened her eyes and the reality came crashing down on her when she realized what had just happened.

Looking at the alarm clock on her nightstand, she sighed. 1:38 AM. "Sorry, Harry," she whispered to the other occupant of the bed she was lying in, as it was his leg, not a castle wall, that she'd kicked.

When no response other than low snores came, Ginny gave her husband a smile and a peck on the forehead and laid her head down on her pillow, letting her thoughts wander back to her dream.

Seriously; her ten-year-old self travelling through time, appearing near Hogwarts and meeting Harry's parents and the Marauders? That was absurd! Although, her dinner was probably to blame for that; scrambled eggs with cheese and a nougat-filled croissant hadn't been quite the best idea. On her own, she wouldn't have eaten those things together, but to her defence, Ginny was currently in a state when she wasn't completely responsible for her food preferences.

"You little rascal, you," Ginny scolded the slowly growing bump in her belly jokingly. "You're not even born yet and you already don't allow me to sleep properly."

With her mind full of thoughts about her baby, Ginny eventually fell asleep again. In the morning, she almost didn't remember her dream at all. But, only until she opened the fridge to find something she could eat for breakfast. When she did so, she couldn't believe her eyes and a small gasp escaped her lips.

'It - it can't be,' Ginny thought, moving two blocks of cheese to the side so she could have a better look.

But it was. There, sitting in the middle of her fridge and leaning on a piece of pork shoulder Ginny wanted to cook for lunch, was the very mushroom from her dream. Like that wasn't enough, grinning at Ginny from the mushroom's cap was nobody else than Bertie Bott, sitting in his own Chocolate Frog Card. And, what was the most irritating to Ginny, he looked like he knew what was going on, and it amused him greatly. Getting laughed at by a card; what had she come to?

* * *

_AN: The mushroom Ginny found is Agaricus augustus – the prince._


End file.
